and has 2 1/2 days in new york city. does a fundraiser tonight. and doestheunitednationsgeneralassemblyopening.we'll see you at the jack lue briefing. >> one more thing to point out in the president's debt plan. in this focus on millionaires. a little bit of a message victory for chuck schumer who is a big advocate of trying to create the millionaire line, if you will, the proverbial drawing that line on this. the white house pushed back big time at the time when it was done. now they're embracing that populism today. interesting side note. speaking of what i was talking about at the united nations. u.s. officials are trying to head off a dramatic showdown over whether to admit an independent palestine to the united nations. hanging in the balance, aid to palestinians, relations with israel and the president's own political future. nbc's john ray is live for us in tel-aviv. in a perverse sort of way, isn't the ewe united states happier today that the palestinians are going to go to the security council rather than the general assembly when it's looking for increased recognition on the world s

scheduled to go beforetheunitednationsgeneralassemblyandright now you can see the president of brazil is addressing the assembly. president obama will push for the palestinians to drop their bid for statehood. he will follow the speech with separate meetings with president

prepares to address the world. any minute now, he is scheduled to go beforetheunitednationsgeneralassemblyandright now you can see the president of brazil is addressing the assembly. president obama will push for the palestinians to drop their bid for statehood. he will follow the speech with separate meetings with president benjamin netanyahu and president abbas. and while at the u.n., palestinians are gathering for peaceful rallies at the west bank. we join ron king outside of the united nations. good morning, ron. >> good morning, chris. the palestinians are hoping to create huge demonstrations that resemble the arab spring offensive in tunisia and

gridlock all over the east side of new york city, which means one thing, theu.n.generalassemblyisin town. president obama arrived in new york last night. has a full slate of meetings and events before delivering an address tomorrow. ron allen is attheunitednationsforus. ron, you got through the traffic. you got through the check points. what can you tell us about what's on the agenda today? >> well, it's a little odd talking to you about what the president is going to do. i'll give it my best shot. you were talking about campaign mode. this place provides the president with an opportunity to show campaign mode, if you will, on the foreign policy side. that's all about israel. the issue that hangs over the meeting of the general assembly this time is the palestinian drive for statehood. it gives the president an opportunity to show he's a strong supporter of israel and that's what we expect him to do. as you know, there's a lot of doubts and skepticism in the jewish community in the united states about the president's commitment to israel. this gives him a chance to show his -- what he thinks of israel and show his support for that country. on the calendar today though, before that, he has a meeting first with the new leaders of libya. later he ha

states intheunitednations. yesterdaythe french president made clear that -- that they didn't see why the palestinian status shouldn't be upgraded in a vote inthegeneralassembly. somy best guess at this point is that the discussion in the security council will be slowed down through procedural mechanisms, but the palestinians will push for a vote in the general assembly. and they will win that vote by a large margin. their status will be increased. and the israelis having lost their relationship with turkey and egypt, which they've had, will now be further isolated in the world. >> and has president obama -- he was as clear as could be about, quote, standing with israel yesterday in both of the -- the one on one meeting with netanyahu but also in his speech to the united nations. but that brings up the question, is the united states -- can president obama be the neutral -- the neutral party that helps the negotiations move forward between the israelis and the palestinians or does somehow the united states now have to take a backseat and let the europeans take the lead here? >> i think it's a very good point, chuck. we're at a new moment in diplomatic history. fo

danger. >> daily flashback to 2002 when president george w. bush told theu.n.generalassemblythatthe u.s. was prepared to act militarily against iraq and wander if necessary the u.s. would act withouttheunitednations. >>>well, tonight in tampa, florida, the republican presidential candidates square off in their second debate in five days. expect another food fight over social security, among other things. jamal simmons is a principal at the raven group. did we get it right? >> you got it light. >> lois row mano and we'll be joined by jennifer reuben who writes for "the washington post" but we've got a little traffic issue this morning. lois, let's start with you and the president and this pitch that he's going to make today, sort of the first -- the second full-throated pitch. with brian williams he called it an insurance policy against a double-dip recession. in an odd way i think that almost raises the stakes for passage or non-passage of this bill. >> i think it's all about the passage for him. what his whole strategy is relying on is emotions, is getting the american public to a point where they start getting angry with the republicans for stone walling it. they want the republicans to drag it out in c